Robert Novak breaks a little news in his column today, noting that Susan Ralston, Karl Rove’s former executive assistant (and disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s former secretary), is “requesting immunity to testify before Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s investigating committee.”
If accurate, this could be a fairly big deal. Last fall, we learned that Abramoff had far more contact with the Bush White House, particularly Rove’s office, than had previously been acknowledged. In particular, we learned that Rove’s Ralston was, as the New York Times explained, “instrumental in passing messages between Mr. Abramoff and senior officials at the White House, including Mr. Rove and Ken Mehlman.” Shortly thereafter (late on a Friday afternoon), Ralston resigned.
And now she wants a deal.
For Waxman, she is a link between the disgraced, imprisoned Abramoff and Rove, a principal political target of the Democratic-controlled Congress.
As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Waxman is tirelessly making life miserable for a confused administration during George W. Bush’s last two years as president. Bringing down Rove ranks high on Grand Inquisitor Waxman’s agenda. But Ralston appears to be seeking immunity for self-protection rather than nailing her former boss, and she could be a blank fired by the fierce political marksman from westside Los Angeles.
Or she could have valuable information to share. After all, Abramoff was in constant close contact with Ralston during her tenure in Rove’s office (when Abramoff needed a favor from the administration, she was the one he called), she was involved enough with the Plame scandal that she testified before Fitzgerald’s grand jury, and Ralston once admitted that she was “involved in much of what goes on at the White House.”
For that matter, remember all the missing White House emails that were mysteriously kept on RNC servers? Ralston used three outside domains to broker deals with Abramoff. In one particularly noteworthy email, Abramoff and a client discuss contacting Ralston on her “RNC pager,” because “it is better not put this stuff in writing in their email system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc. Who knows?”
Novak added an interesting perspective from the Hill.
Many of these congressmen believe that Rove should have quit when he was ahead as manager of the two Bush elections and left in January 2005. However, they do not want to see him limp out of Washington with his scalp hanging on Henry Waxman’s belt. “We’re not hostile to the administration,” one prominent conservative House member who did not want his name used told me. “We just want it to be over.”
Don’t we all.
Regardless, Novak suggests Ralston wants immunity because her lawyers want to err on the side of caution. Perhaps. But let’s not forget that she, as well as anyone, knows which of Rove’s skeletons are hidden in which White House closets.
Stay tuned.